Concetto spaziale ›attese‹, 1958/65

CommentaryWith a cut in a monochrome painted canvas, Lucio Fontana opened a new chapter in the history of panel painting. In breaking through, holing or cutting with a sharp knife the surface of the painting, Fontana rigorously circumvents any pictorial depiction, while at the same time creating a visible reality: opening the canvas frees the view of the space lying behind – a creative thought taken to its logical conclusion. With this act, Fontana himself meets his demand for an art free of aesthetic devices. With the simple cut in the grounded canvas, Fontana goes to the limits of painting; this has parallels to the spirituality of a Kasimir Malewitsch or Piet Mondrian who also – in different ways –took the path to abstraction.

With a cut in a monochrome painted canvas, Lucio Fontana opened a new chapter in the history of panel painting. In breaking through, holing or cutting with a sharp knife the surface of the painting, Fontana rigorously circumvents any pictorial depiction, while at the same time creating a visible reality: opening the canvas frees the view of the space lying behind – a creative thought taken to its logical conclusion. With this act, Fontana himself meets his demand for an art free of aesthetic devices. With the simple cut in the grounded canvas, Fontana goes to the limits of painting; this has parallels to the spirituality of a Kasimir Malewitsch or Piet Mondrian who also – in different ways –took the path to abstraction.